Emperor Zhengde

Chapter 217: The Ambition of Imperial Academy Scholar Gui E

Zhu En was reprimanded by Zhu Houzhao and voluntarily resigned from his post, and the position of Minister of Rites became vacant again.

For some reason, the Minister of Rites during the Zhengde Dynasty always got into trouble.

Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng was sentenced to death for treason.

Minister of Rites Mao Cheng was executed by former cabinet minister Xu Jin for attempting to establish a new emperor.

This noble position in the court, which is the easiest to enter the cabinet, seems to have never been able to be held firmly by any official.

Zhu Houzhao's requirements for the Minister of Rites were actually not high. In fact, among the seven ministers (a new ministry was added), he only accepted the Minister of Rites to be a little pedantic and stubborn.

However, this does not mean that Zhu Houzhao did not like the Minister of Rites, an official who knew nothing but loved to talk nonsense and, most importantly, could not say anything.

"The imperial court's selection system needs to be changed. From now on, except for the Ministry of Justice, the other six ministers, provincial governors and cabinet ministers will be recommended by the chief minister of the cabinet. Then the cabinet and the incumbent nine ministers and the six departments of the Censorate will vote in court. If more than half of them agree, they will be submitted to me for approval. I must personally interview the recommended person. I will not ask about his qualifications, but his ability. If the recommended person is not talented enough, I will hold the chief minister accountable. How did you recommend him?"

Zhu Houzhao knew that the Ming Dynasty was different from previous dynasties because Zhu Yuanzhang abolished the prime minister system, which resulted in the power of the prime minister, that is, the administrative head who handled daily administrative affairs, being unclear. In name, the emperor was both the head of state, the administrative head, and the military commander.

Although this is beneficial to the monarchy, it is unrealistic.

Because not every emperor is as energetic as Zhu Yuanzhang. Even if the prime minister system is abolished, there will be official positions similar to the prime minister to replace the prime minister's functions, such as the current cabinet system of the Ming Dynasty.

However, because the cabinet was initially a temporary institution, its administrative functions have always been unclear, and it does not even fully possess the functions of a central institution.

Because of this, it was sometimes difficult for the emperor to control the civil service group by controlling the cabinet, because many civil servants, especially the former six ministers, did not take the cabinet seriously at all. After all, they were not legally subordinate to the cabinet, nor were they recommended by the cabinet. They were recommended and promoted by the entire civil service group.

In history, Zhang Juzheng, in addition to gaining the support of the inner court, also had to control the six ministries before he, as the chief minister of the cabinet, could carry out reforms. But even so, many civil servants still did not buy into his ideas as the chief minister of the cabinet, and his desire for the cabinet to control the six ministries and the censors was opposed.

But now, Zhu Houzhao wanted to put a tight ring on the entire civil service group and give them a steward, that is, let the cabinet chief minister truly have the administrative power of the prime minister, and the military power must not be given to him, and he must be the supreme commander of the military! But in terms of administration, he can let the cabinet chief minister have the real power to command all officials, so that he, the emperor, can directly control the entire civil service group by controlling the cabinet chief minister.

After all, he is not Zhu Yuanzhang and cannot fight against the entire civil service group alone. He can learn from Jiajing and use the cabinet to control the civil service group. In fact, in the original history, the power of the cabinet began to expand during the Jiajing period. It was also from the Jiajing period that the cabinet truly had the power of a prime minister and the so-called powerful ministers such as Yan Song appeared.

"Your Majesty! Please think twice. If this is the case, the power of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet is too great, and all the civil servants in the world will be his lackeys. We are the ministers of the emperor, not his disciples!" At this time, Jiao Huangzhong, the president of the Hanlin Academy, stood up. He knew that on the surface this move seemed like Your Majesty was giving power to the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, but in fact it was finding another leader for the civil service groups, just like a shepherd finding a sheepdog to look after the flock. Jiao Huangzhong knew that as long as Your Majesty controlled the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, it would be equivalent to controlling all the civil servants.

However, Jiao Huangzhong could not say this directly, and could only try to organize Zhu Houzhao on the grounds that the power of the Prime Minister might be too great.

"You are all my disciples. Even if the Prime Minister is your superior, he is only your superior in the government. As long as you don't bend your knees, how can the Prime Minister make you bend? The Prime Minister is not the king, so he has no right to punish you. He is not the censor of the six departments or the censor of the Metropolitan Censorate, so he has no right to impeach you. He only has the right to recommend you! Moreover, not all civil servants need to be recommended by the Prime Minister of the Cabinet. The three judicial officials and other civil servants do not need to be recommended by the Prime Minister of the Cabinet!"

After Zhu Houzhao said this, Jiao Huangzhong knew that he could not stop the emperor from strengthening the power of the cabinet. He could only sigh in his heart that there would be more people who wanted to be cabinet ministers in the future. Officials in the world would no longer be willing to focus on advising the emperor, but would only focus on being the prime minister who was second only to the emperor. They would only think about changing the world instead of changing the emperor. The more free the emperor was, the more incompetent emperors there would be!

Just as Jiao Huang had expected, Zhu Houzhao knew that by doing so he would make the emperor more free. Even if the emperor made elixirs or did carpentry work, the world could run normally. Even if a young ruler ascended the throne, he could start a new era of prosperity. As long as the civil officials did not use despicable means, the emperor could achieve peace and prosperity in the world by controlling one assistant.

But sometimes there is a real gap between reality and ideal. The emperor wants to control the prime minister, and the civil service group also wants to control the prime minister. So much so that in the late Wanli period in history, Gu Xiancheng, a minor official of the fifth rank of the Donglin Party, was able to mobilize officials all over the country to interfere in the selection of cabinet ministers, and even control cabinet politics, forcing the prime minister Fang Congzhe to step down.

No matter how the court situation will develop in the future, at least the cabinet's powers need to be clarified and expanded now, which conforms to the historical trend and is also the best way for Zhu Houzhao to implement the factory and guard system.

After all, civil servants are also human beings and they also have to have the highest goals. If they are not allowed to see that they can have the highest power, they will not have the mind to make progress and cherish the ideal of governing the country and pacifying the world. Otherwise, they will only think that reforming the world is the emperor's own business.

"I will obey your orders!"

The Chief Minister of the Cabinet, Wang Hua, bowed his hands first. He knew that if the changes were made as His Majesty said, he, the Chief Minister of the Cabinet, would become the so-called prime minister. He didn't know whether he should be happy or worried. He felt like he was sitting on a stove, feeling hot but unable to get down for a while.

Gui E, a scholar of the Hanlin Academy, looked at Wang Hua, the chief minister of the cabinet. He couldn't help but smile. He was even happier than Wang Hua. He knew that once he became the chief minister in the future, he would no longer be just the emperor's clerk, but would be able to lead all the officials in the world and do things to promote benefits and eliminate evils.

Gui E secretly calculated who were ahead of him and when he would be able to become the prime minister.

Liu Yu, the second assistant of the cabinet, also looked at Wang Hua meaningfully. For the first time, he felt that it was time for Wang Hua to retire.

Zhu Houzhao noticed the expressions of these people. He found that the civil servants had begun to plot secretly and were no longer focusing on dealing with him, the king.

(End of this chapter)